Sorceress meets Andromeda

Strangers in a strange land – Continued

The mood was sombre aboard the Earth Alliance ships Hood and Sorceress as the rescue parties reported to find only a third of the Bismarck's crew had survived. Half the ship had been exposed to hard vacuum, killing almost everyone in the forward and mid sections, the only section that escaped such a fate was the relatively undamaged engineering section, where almost two hundred of a total crew of seven hundred had managed to hunker down and wait for rescue, with small groups in small pockets of air scattered across the remains.

It was, however, not a time for a memorial service as there was an unknown ship on approach, its intentions unclear. Thanks to Chief Engineer Scott's tireless efforts, the Sorceress was ready for action. The story on the Hood was different; the trip through the Jump Point had stressed her space frame beyond breaking point, meaning she couldn't handle the recoil from her plasma cannons in a broadside, so the Hood moved to a position behind and to the right of Sorceress, showing a minimum aspect. Even if she couldn't put out a broadside she could still fire a fearsome frontal volley.


EAS Sorceress

Bridge

Everyone on the bridge was tense, they had only recently been in a battle, and were now ready for another one if necessary. Commander Corwin had just returned from Med Lab, his wrist in a cast and his ribs bandaged, his state mirroring that of the Sorceress, damaged, but not broken.

He felt a great sense of pride in his crew, amazed that in only a few short hours since the death of his captain he regarded them as his. He was proud of his people, in particular the engineers who worked tirelessly to get Sorceress ready for action. He just hoped that the Hood would survive if this turned nasty.

The unidentified vessel, codenamed Bogey 1, was moving closer; soon they would be in range for a real-time radio transmission. Corwin was getting the final status reports from his new xo, Lieutenant Commander Sarah Maxwell, the former tactical officer.

"All systems are in the green sir, should the balloon go up we'll be ready to respond in a second."

"Very good Commander," he said as he sat heavily in the command chair. "Bring the Interceptor and E-web grids online, but keep the main weapons unpowered, we don't want to seem too provocative."

"Aye sir, Interceptors online, main weapons on hold."

"Communication, begin transmitting our language codes in interlac, let's see if they would be so kind to exchange languages."

"Aye sir, sending standard First Contact package," said the communications officer."

Seconds after sending it the forward view screen came on, showing a sandy haired man, 'a human?' with a small Asian woman standing beside him. He then began speaking in a language that no one on the bridge recognized. A few seconds after he stopped talking he seemed to realize that they didn't understand him, he then gave the Asian woman a look and she started talking.

"I am Andromeda, the shipboard AI for this vessel and this is Captain Dylan Hunt, the commander of this vessel; I will act as translator for this First Contact, the package you sent wasn't necessary since I already have the English language in my databanks."

"So, you're like the Avatar for the Andromeda?"

"Yes."

"How could you have our language in your databanks? We've never seen you before, hell we haven't even encountered anyone that uses AI's in this fashion."

"This may seem strange to ask, but what year do you think this is?"

"2271," Corwin answered, almost dreading the answer he was about to receive.

"I'm sorry I have to tell you this, but by your calendar you're in the 72nd century."

It felt like a someone had kicked him in the gut, not only were they lost in space, but also in time, but the biggest surprise was yet to come.

"History has no record of any ships conforming to the Hood and Sorceress's design, so if our theory is correct you're not even in the same universe anymore."

That last revelation was almost the proverbial straw that broke the equally proverbial camel's back. Everyone on the bridge practically felt their hearts break, they would never see their homes again, their families, loved ones, they would be dead to them by now. It was almost enough to bring Commander Corwin to tears, but he held it in for his crew. 'Got to stay strong for them, can't let them see me cry,' he thought bitterly, hoping that he could soon go to his quarters and deal with this himself without the crew having to see their captain break down in tears.

"I believe we should meet face to face, would you and your Captain mind coming aboard to discuss our situation?"

The Android and human started talking amongst themselves, other voices could be heard in the background as they discussed the proposal.

"No, but we would be more than happy to have you come aboard me to discuss this."

Corwin thought this over a little bit, weighing the options. Neither of his ships was in any condition to start a fight, and that ship was scarily fast, but they were just in range of the Sorceress's main guns, one blast at full power should be more than enough to disable the Andromeda, at least give him enough time to escape.

"Very well, I'll come aboard by shuttle in thirty minutes, and I'll be bringing along a couple of Marines with me as body guards, is that acceptable." He silenced Commander Maxwell with a raised hand as she stood up to protest this course of action.

"It is acceptable Captain, we'll be waiting." The com line was cut.

"Captain what do you think you're doing? Going over there with only a pair of Marines as bodyguards is tantamount to suicide; we don't know these people, despite how they look."

"Commander if Captain Denisov were still alive I would still be the one that would be sent since I am the most qualified, and quite frankly most of you aren't experienced with First Contact protocols."

"And you are?" she challenged.

"I did serve on Babylon 5 for a long time, under Sinclair, Sheridan and Lochley; I picked up a few things from them over the years."

"I still don't like it," she said with a very sour look upon her face.

"Tough, now get doctor Scott down to the shuttle, she transferred over here with the wounded from the Hood, and she's a Telepath right

"Yes sir." Doctor Janet Scott, sister of Commander Marie Scott, had transferred over from the Hood since its medical facilities had been partially destroyed in rampant power surges that had coursed through her many decks. Then it dawned on her what he was thinking. "Oh no, you're not going to use her like a Commercial Telepath are you? You know that her sister Marie will most likely make sure you have an accident if anything happens to her sister."

"It's a risk I'm more than willing to take, just get her down to the launch bay."

"Aye sir," she said as she went down to the Med Lab to send the good doctor on her way. Minutes later the small aero-shuttle got catapulted out the forward launch bay, setting course for the Andromeda. As they came closer to the Andromeda and got to see more of her lines she looked more like a piece of artwork than a warship, but the various gun and missile ports that riddled her hull showed that she was a powerful warship. The shuttle headed straight for one of the Andromeda's shuttle bays they gently touched down onto the deck, then something really surprising happened, gravity began to gently settle in and they felt like they were back at Earth norm gravity, instead of the 0, 9 Gs that you felt on the Sorceress.


Andromeda Ascendant

They gingerly stepped off the shuttle, wearing full spacesuits for fear of contamination, a point doctor Scott had insisted upon before she joined on this little mission. They saw that the doors that led to the rest of the ship opened and three figures came out. Corwin had brought a full Marine Fire team with him; two would stay with the shuttle while the other two went with the Captain and the doctor. They wore full battle-armour, their faces obscured by smart alloy deployable armour with two slits for the eyes, their heads-up display linked to their PPG rifles and sidearm's.

They walked up to the greeting party that came for them, Corwin scrutinised them for a couple of seconds, sizing them up. He recognized Captain Hunt and the Avatar, but the third was someone new. A large dark skinned man with dreadlocks he wore some sort of chainmail shirt with combat trousers and boots, looking more like a mercenary than a professional soldier, yet still had the same bearing as a soldier. Corwin raised his right hand in salute, his subordinates followed swiftly behind.

"Permission to come aboard?"

"Permission granted," said Hunt as he returned the salute, his implant translated the greeting into Common. Rommie translated for their benefit.

"Welcome aboard the Andromeda Ascendant, this is Rommie, the Android version of Andromeda, and this man here is our resident Nietzschean Tyr Anasazi, if you'll follow me we can continue this discussion in the conference room."

They followed Captain Hunt and his entourage to one of the main conference rooms aboard. Captain Hunt began to ask, "Why are you wearing environmental suits? I assure you its quite safe."

"I'm sorry captain, but this is both for our protection as well as yours, since we're from totally different times, and universes, who knows what sort of bug could be fatal to us," answered Doctor Scott.

"I can assure you that it is quite safe for you..."

"I'll be the judge of that, thank you very much."

They all sat down at the conference table, the two Marine bodyguards stood by the door, while Tyr stood stoically to the side of the room, scrutinising their four guests. The Marines studied the Nietzschean from behind their masks, sizing him up like the predators they were.

"You mind telling us where we are? Our navigation system is having a tough time pinpointing our exact location, are we even in the Milky Way?" asked Corwin.

"We are indeed inside the Milky Way; in fact we're on the outer edge of it."

"Are we anywhere near Earth?"

"We're about a thousand light years away, but you wouldn't want to go there."

"Why not?"

"Because the Drago-Kazov Pride controls Earth and they wouldn't exactly welcome you there," said Captain Hunt.

"Drago-Kazov Pride?"

"The strongest of the Nietzhean Prides, they took over Earth after the Magog ravaged the planet."

This led to a further explanation of what a Magog was, a brief summary of the history of the Commonwealth and its downfall, how there was chaos in the three galaxies for the past three centuries. Captain Hunt also told them of their latest encounter they had with the Magog, the battle with the World Ship and that it was only disabled, not destroyed.

"So, you have a ship run by a small number of people that wouldn't even rate as a skeleton crew, we have three practically outdated warships with large crews that need a new home, are you proposing an alliance?" asked Corwin, he felt like he was being manipulated, a feeling he knew very well having dealt with various alien ambassadors, including Londo Mollari and G'Kar.

"There is also the wounded to think about, we've got over a thousand injured people crowding the Sorceress, far more than her Med Lab facilities can hope to treat," reminded Doctor Scott.

"We could bring your wounded onboard, there is more than enough space in our sickbay, and I'd like to discuss the possibility of merging your crew with ours."

"What about the Sorceress and the Hood, we can't just leave them adrift now," said Corwin, the Sorceress was the first ship he had actual command of and he didn't want to leave anything behind for other races to steal, even if they were in a different universe.

"We have scanned your vessels and we have found that the materials used in their construction could be used to repair the Andromeda," said Rommie.

"You want to scavenge our ships for raw materials?"

"With your permission of course," said Captain Hunt, quickly placating Corwin.

"No, we will not abandon our ships, we are willing to perhaps break down the Hood and the Bismarck for raw materials and spare parts, but I will not allow the Sorceress to be broken up for nothing more than spare parts and raw materials," he said with a passion.

While the two commanding officers were negotiating Doctor Scott was subtly probing the Nietzhean's surface thoughts. All she saw was a very focused mind, and some of his thoughts concerning her and the two Earth Force ships disturbed her. He was finding ways to exploit them, and she also saw that he considered them less than nothing, mere bugs to be squashed. She tried to probe a little deeper and saw what Tyr was planning, all the little contingency plans he had in place, and that he was ready to betray Captain Hunt the instant Captain Hunts back was turned. What she didn't expect was that he felt her intrusion upon his mind and identified her as the source of the intrusion.

"Get out of my mind," he snarled and pulled out his hand gun and levelled it at her, the two Marines quickly pulled out their PPGs and took aim.

"What's going on here?" asked Hunt as he watched events unfold.

"I apologise Captain Hunt, I was doing a mere surface scan of Tyr Anasazi here, I got curious and I delved a little too deeply into his mind," answered Doctor Scott.

"What are you talking about?"

"She's a telepath, you can see by the Psi sign on her space suit, all telepaths in Earth Force have to wear identifying tags to show what they are," said Commander Corwin. "Don't you have human telepaths here?"

"No, we don't, or at least not documented proof," answered Rommie, studying the Doctor with a cool eye.

"You will stay out of my mind, telepath, or I will shot you here and now," said Tyr, worried that this woman hadn't gotten all of his plans.

"You are an ambitious and deceitful bastard Tyr Anasazi, and I am glad that I did do it, you are only loyal to yourself, biding your time to strike like a coiled serpent and should never have been allowed aboard this ship," she said, seriously disliking the Nietzhean with every fibre of her being.

Tyr released the safety on his gun, the Marines charged their PPGs to full charge, not taking any chances with using the stun setting, for all they knew this Nietzhean could take a PPG blast set to stun and would only give him a light sunburn.

"I suggest you put that weapon down mister Anasazi before my Marines burn you to a crisp," warned Commander Corwin.

It could go either way, either Anasazi put down his gun, or he decided to take the shot and be burned to a crisp by two very protective marines.

AN: please r&r.